Chocolate Milk - Nutrition in Disguise?

My boys (ages 6 and 3) have never been big milk drinkers and I know for a fact from talking to other parents that I am not alone. It's always been a personal challenge to fit more milk into their diets as a way to get their daily dose of Vitamin D and calcium. They are fine with other dairy items such as cheese and yogurt but when it comes to actually drinking the white stuff, they are both a miss.

They do however, like chocolate milk and will drink it at any opportunity given. This got me to thinking, "is chocolate milk and acceptable substitute for traditional white milk?"

I did a little searching around the Internet on the subject and was happy and surprised to find out some information I thought I would share.

Chocolate milk contains the same nine essential nutrients as white milk. Flavored milk provides calcium, protein, vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin B12, potassium, phosphorus, riboflavin and niacin.

Chocolate milk comes in many varieties, including reduced fat, low fat and fat free. For example, a 1 cup serving of low fat flavored milk has only 2.5 grams of fat per serving, the exact amount as in white milk.

The ingredients in chocolate milk are much less likely to cause cavities than soft drinks and sticky snack foods. Liquids such as flavored milk clear the mouth faster. Some studies suggest that the cocoa in chocolate milk may actually protect against cavities.

The amount of caffeine in chocolate milk is similar to the amount found in decaffeinated drinks. An 8-ounce serving of chocolate milk contains between 2 mg and 7 mg of caffeine. According to recent evidence, the amount of caffeine in chocolate milk is too small to have a detrimental effect on a child's behavior.

Children who consume chocolate milk did not have higher intakes of added sugars or total fat in their overall diet in comparison with children who do not consume flavored milk.

That being said, I am a little more confident to serve the brown stuff. I think that ideally, if your child likes white milk it is a preferable choice but in the event that they don't drink milk at all unless it's that of the chocolate variety, it is a superior alternative to just drinking juice. In the end, the only case I could find against chocolate milk comes with adding any flavour to milk adds sugar and calories to an otherwise healthy drink.

In good health,

Susan